Oil Downs (Beat to Death)

[Toby Lang]

Looks to me like they're going to have to incorporate an oil down into the first or worst rule. Oiling down the track would be the equivalent of crossing the centerline or hitting the wall. I say no freebies either.

It can't be any fun for the fans to sit through these oil downs. The fans are the ones who pay the bills for the NHRA.


-Toby

[X-TECH MAN]

Originally Posted by sstockdart

antron oiled the track.........over 15 minutes so far for clean up.

Two runs later, a funny car oil down......on hold again.

lol...............................

[cicero819]

one small fuel pump, 75% nitro and finally bodies that at least resemble the manufacturers product, not a submarine or giant hotdog. Doesn't matter Force will have all his 16 car qualified to make sure one of his daughters wins a championship , same thing in top fool. Better to support your local tracks and help them with putting on a stock and super stock show.

[Steve1118]

Of course I was kidding. Wasn't that obvious?

[Ed Fernandez]

Bruton Smith probably had it right with Carolina Raceway,but for the wrong reason.Instead of 4 wide they should run the leakers,fuel and alcohol,one one pair and the real race cars on the other pair.For insurance purposes they would need a safer
restraining system to keep a car from jumping the center divider if they were cleaning up a leaker mess and the real cars were running at the same times.
Unfortunately it would be cost and real estate prohibitive.Too bad.

[X-TECH MAN]

Originally Posted by will prater

Make them tech in with one motor and have to use it all weekend. Eddy Hill used to run the same one all weekend in his fuel drag boat. Calm them down so they can get down the track. So what if they are a little slower the noise will still be there. And they might actually have more side by side runs.

X 2 But NHRA has their head up their azz ! Cut out one fuel pump, limit the blower size and overdrive. Limit the percentage of nitro in the alcohol. I remember when they used to run a 64 (Yep...Sixty Four) car top fuel field and the used one engine and usually the winner AND runner up never had the heads off during eliminations. So who cares if they slow down to high 5 second runs ? As Will says the noise and nitro smells will still be there. At least they would run a real race side by side and the little guy could afford to compete. Just look at the Nostalgia front engine fuel races going on today. Its a much better show than the crap thats out there today and there would be less oil downs. .

[Doug Domm]

Originally Posted by Ed Fernandez

Bruton Smith probably had it right with Carolina Raceway,but for the wrong reason.Instead of 4 wide they should run the leakers,fuel and alcohol,one one pair and the real race cars on the other pair.For insurance purposes they would need a safer
restraining system to keep a car from jumping the center divider if they were cleaning up a leaker mess and the real cars were running at the same times.
Unfortunately it would be cost and real estate prohibitive.Too bad.

Or they could simply install one of those automatic scraper deals in the first two lanes like the commercial pig barns have and let the foolers run in the dung. That'll slow them down.

[SStockDart]

One more comment and I'll be done with this subect.......When the NASCAR cars were going too fast at Daytona and Taledega, they didn't shorten the race. They took away horsepower. Same for Indy Cars when it was deemed the cars were too fast to be safe. I understand that their is a huge difference between the NASCAR, Indy Cars, and NHRA. They are not purely and acceleration competition. They have to finish the race before they can win. I sincerely believe that we can improve the spectator experience, thus improving attendance by reducing the horsepower of the fuel cars and letting them race the complete 1/4 mile. They claim over 8,000 horsepower. Doesn't 4,000 horsepower still sound impressive? Or 3,000? Would reducing the speed of the fuel cars help with the insurance issues? Yes! We would still have the worlds fastest auto sport and could be marketed as such. I for one, want NHRA to be successful. I want to race. But please don't blame us for the oil down problem. And please don't stomp your feet and insist that we don't oil the track or we will penalize you! Instead, address the problem it is not going to go away by itself. I'm done. Time for a chill pill.

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by X-TECH MAN

X 2 But NHRA has their head up their azz ! Cut out one fuel pump, limit the blower size and overdrive. Limit the percentage of nitro in the alcohol. I remember when they used to run a 64 (Yep...Sixty Four) car top fuel field and the used one engine and usually the winner AND runner up never had the heads off during eliminations. So who cares if they slow down to high 5 second runs ? As Will says the noise and nitro smells will still be there. At least they would run a real race side by side and the little guy could afford to compete. Just look at the Nostalgia front engine fuel races going on today. Its a much better show than the crap thats out there today and there would be less oil downs. .

X2 And if you remember in those days they were running a junk yard block and heads and a real GMC blower, and as memory serves ran better races. Would also mandate one mag and plug per cyl, and why not a 400cid limit .

[X-TECH MAN]

Originally Posted by Curmudgeon

X2 And if you remember in those days they were running a junk yard block and heads and a real GMC blower, and as memory serves ran better races. Would also mandate one mag and plug per cyl, and why not a 400cid limit .

Yes I remember and have some 8mm film of Colman Bros. Speed Shop, Tex Randle, "Joltin" Joe Jancano (sp?) with his small block Chev fueler at Aquasco in Md. around 1962-63. I dont recall any of them blowing stuff up during a race. I was there when Tex was killed and it wasnt because his engine blew up. Even when they smoked the tires the full 1/4 mile the race was close and exciting. More exciting to me because of the tire smoke. All of the suggestions sound good but I doubt the big wigs would ever go for it in NHRA. It would make to much sense. Do we really need 300+ MPH fuel dragsters and Ha Ha cars?